Point Reyes Light - November 15, 2001
Ratings climb for six West Marin schools
By Daniel Freed
A report released last month by the California Department of Education revealed that West Marin, Bolinas-Stinson, Lagunitas, Nicasio, and Tomales Elementary along with Tomales High school all improved their standardized test scores between 2000 and 2001.
"I’m seeing growth in primary reading, language arts, and some in math," said Shoreline School District superintendent Steve Rosenthal on Monday. "Though I do think math is an area that we need – along with writing – to focus on and emphasize."
The Academic Performance Index growth report indicates that Lagunitas, Nicasio, and Bolinas Elementary Schools have outperformed the other schools and have already met the state’s overall performance target.
The API report shows that students at these three schools are for the most part native English speakers, socio-ecomically advantaged, and have parents who are more highly educated than at the other three West Marin schools where the state target has not yet been reached.
Comparisons don’t work
"The most important thing for me is looking at internal growth from one year to the next," Rosenthal said. "There are so many factors from school to school that you can’t really make comparisons."
Using results of the Stanford 9 tests, which students in grades two through 11 take each year, the state has issued a rating of between 200 and 1000 for each school. The state sets an overall performance target for each school as an 800.
Individual Stanford 9 scores are calculated on a nationwide curve and merely reflect relative standing. The average result nationwide on the Stanford 9 is set at 50 and individual and grade level reports are made relative to this average. Thus, a sixth-grade math class with a score of 78 did better than 78 percent of sixth-grade math students nationwide.
API scores are calculated in certain core areas. All students take reading, language, and math tests. Students in second through eighth grade also take a spelling test, and students in ninth through eleventh grade take additional science and history-social studies tests.
API based on Stanford 9
The schoolwide API score is then derived by calculating percentages of students at a school scoring within each of five performance levels. The results in different content areas are then weighted and combined to get a school API.
Growth targets are set at 5 percent of the difference between the score the school received in a previous test year and the 800 overall target score.
Standardized tests are not particularly popular in West Marin school districts, and this is the last year that the Stanford 9 will be used as the sole indicator of a school’s quality. The change pleases Bolinas-Stinson superintendent Larry Enos, "I don’t put a lot of credence in the API," Enos said. "I don’t think it’s fair to rank schools based only on the Stanford 9 results."
Next year, the API will factor in the results from another standardized test – the California Standards Tests – in which the scores are based on an absolute standard, not simply on their comparison to other scores.
Problems with test
Critics cite other problems with Stanford 9. Classroom conditions such as class size and composition aren’t taken into account. Nor are differences between teachers, schools, and districts.
"We’re really fortunate in that people here care about education and they care about the whole child," said Rosenthal. "They see the importance of test scores but see that that’s not the only thing. I do not put all of my marbles in the testing jar."
API results are also broken down to show performance of certain subgroups within a school. State law defines these significant ethnic or socioeconomically disadvantaged groups as those which constitute at least 15 percent of a school’s total population and at least 30 students.
Ethnic subgroups are calculated by parent questionnaire. Likewise, students who participate in the free or reduced lunch program or who have two parents without high school diplomas are termed "socio-economically disadvantaged."
All groups improved
All signficant West Marin subgroups – whites, Latinos, and socio-economically disadvantaged students – met growth targets. The average API score for white students at the six West Marin schools was 824, with white students at Nicasio recording the highest score at 900 and whites at Tomales High scoring the lowest at 765. (At Nicasio, Lagunitas, and Bolinas whites made up the only subgroup large enough to be counted.)
West Marin Elementary, Tomales Elementary, and Tomales High had large enough groups to be counted of Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students. At the three schools the average API score for Latinos was 517 while the average for socio-economically disadvantaged students was 553.
At the three schools, scores for the whites subgroup – already high – increased on average 32 points. Latinos and disadvantaged students took more significant strides. Latino subgroups tested an average of 63 points higher while the scores of disadvantaged students climbed an average of 77 points.
West Marin results
Here are the results for the six West Marin schools that were reporded (West Marin’s one-room school districts – Laguna, Union, and Lincoln – were too small to be reported).
Pairs of numbers reflect this year’s Stanford 9 score followed by last year’s score for the same group of students.
• Lagunitas School – Overall API score was 827, up from 810 last year.
(No results were available for second graders because their class size was too small for statistical accuracy)
Third grade: reading 69, 61; math 64, 67; language 66, 49; spelling 35, 57.
Fourth grade: reading 77, 79; math 66, 71; language 64, 67; spelling 65, 64.
Fifth grade: reading 79, 94; math 66, 71; language 71, 83; spelling 68, 76.
Sixth grade: reading 79, 82; math 73, 75; language 79, 76; spelling 68, 70.
Seventh grade: reading 77, 75; math 73, 74; language 85, 70; spelling 65, 54.
Eighth grade: reading 76, 67; math 68, 63; language 75, 73; spelling 61, 61.
• Bolinas-Stinson – API score was 827, up from 822 last year.
(No second grade results)
Third grade: reading 76, 63; math 58, 57; language 66, 58; spelling 35, 39.
Fourth grade: reading 74, 74; math 64, 65; language 62, 67; spelling 72, 49.
Fifth grade: reading 75, 77; math 71, 64; language 63, 70; spelling 50, 64.
Sixth grade: reading 78, 77; math 79, 76; language 73, 59; spelling 65, 51.
Seventh grade: reading 80, 81; math 76, 81; language 89, 69; spelling 75, 71.
Eighth grade: reading 91, 85; math 84, 86; language 85, 88; spelling 72, 82.
• Nicasio – API score was 863, up from 827 last year.
Because of the small size of the school, only 2001 scores for the sixth grade class were avaliable.
Sixth grade: reading 73, language 83, spelling 69.
• West Marin School – API score was 672, up from 667 last year.
Second grade: (Students did not take the Stanford 9 last year) reading 63, math 78, language 66, spelling 52.
Third grade: reading 46, 32; math 44, 33; language 48, 42; spelling 36, 33.
Fourth grade: reading 41, 38; math 20, 47; language 33, 36; spelling 30, 31.
Fifth grade: reading 54, 50; math 49, 42; language 46, 28; spelling 46, 39.
Sixth grade: reading 70, 76; math 70, 61; language 67, 65; spelling 61, 61.
Seventh grade: reading 52, 56; math 52, 50; language 55. 54; spelling 35, 44.
Eighth grade: reading 65, 62; math 44, 58; language 55, 54; spelling 47, 54.
• Tomales Elementary – API score was 757, up from 710 last year.
Second grade: (Students did not take the Stanford 9 last year) reading 51, math 56, language 63, spelling 41.
Third grade: reading 54, 49; math 56, 38; language 61, 37; spelling 50, 42.
Fourth grade: reading 58, 40; math 47, 52; language 57, 47; spelling 43, 42.
Fifth grade: reading 71, 56; math 80, 55; language 67, 55; spelling 54, 43.
Sixth grade: reading 63, 52; math 59, 49; language 63, 53; spelling 49, 37.
Seventh grade: reading 69, 67; math 80, 68; language 81, 62; spelling 61, 56.
Eighth grade: reading 69, 80; math 63, 76; language 78, 84; spelling 59, 73.
• Tomales High – API score was 705, up from 631 last year.
Ninth grade: (No data for this group’s Stanford 9 results from last year) reading 55, math 66, language 68, science 61, social studies 61.
Tenth grade: reading 57, 42; math 42, 49; language 42, 50, science 54, 55; social studies 45, 58
Eleventh grade: reading 49, 37; math 57, 43; language 51, 36, science 68, 51; social studies 68, 41.